Whole Roasted Red Snapper

Before I get on with this visually stimulating and most delicious dish, I must say I’m really liking the feel and look of “Kalofagas Mach II”. It’s cleaner, more organized, revolving header scheme and it’s scalab, meaning that changes, tweaks and updates to the look and function of the blog are easily applied in the future.

I would like to thank the following people who took their time to assist me with my WordPress growing pains:

Ben from What’s Cooking. Ben was the first person to offer assistance with my blog transfer to WordPress. He has the patience of a saint and it was he who put the fire under my feet to make the move.

Mike and Tina of the Choosy Beggars. Mike and Tina are also Toronto-area bloggers and I had the pleasure of meeting, drinking and dining with them on a recent Sunday afternoon (which quickly became a Sunday evening). They offered to drop on by to get me started on building an actual new web page for Kalofagas. They helped me get through the homestretch, orient me with the inner workings of WordPress and I in turn fed them.

Mike opted for the Lamb Ragu and Tina went the way of the Greek fisherman’s soup known as Kakavia.

Finally, Lori of Recipe Girl also just revamped her blog and she recommended that I contact a Tommy Vallier…a WordPress hack who actually enjoys this stuff so much he’s made a career out of it (sounds like my guy). Tommy was easy to work with, we communicated via ‘instant messenger’ and Skype to exchange ideas, tweak the new blog and ultimately unveil “Kalofagas Mach II”.

Tommy lives in Kingston, Ontario (which is about 2.5 hrs. east of Toronto), I found him very easy to work with, explains matters free of computer jargon, was a pleasant fellow to deal with, quick results, definitive results. If you’re ready to make your move to WordPress, I highly recommend Tommy Vallier as he’s very knowledgeable, quick results, patient, good fee structure and he’s also a Canadian dude!

For the next little while, you’ll see some tweaking of the blog here and there. The next big step is to add my “blogs of note” friends back into my links. Once again, I invite those who are my friends or frequent visitors to my blog to notify me if they would like to be added to these links.

I promise not to talk about computers for a long time, this is a food blog – this is what I’m here for and what you’re here for…FOOD!

Today’s dish came to my dashboard courtesy of a food friend but I only recall that it was from a female. The person had bookedmarked this dish for trying out, sent me the link and I immediately bookmarked the dish too!

Even looking into the roasting pan full of the raw ingredients made me hungry. I loved that this dish was easy, most of the prep can be done while the oven is pre-heating and your biggest challenges would be to find some fresh red snapper and some Portuguese linguica sausage. Living in Toronto, we are blessed with having quality ingredients and just about every (and any) ethnic ingredient you can think of.

This was my first time buying and trying out linguica and I found it to have a similar taste to Spanish Chorizo. It posesses that smoky paprika flavour, it’s a little dryer and leaner than Chorizo and the meat’s consistency reminded me a bit of a good Kielbasa.

Finding a fresh fish is also a must here. As always, I recommend buying whole fish. Even if you’re going to have it filleted, at least you will be able to inspect and ensure you’re buying the freshest catch of the day. If you can’t find red snapper, other snappers work fine, a sea bass or bream would work in a pinch.

Red snapper works well here because of it’s red colour, it’s delicate white meat and because red snapper comes in various sizes so, choose the size of fish according to how many people you need to serve. The recipe says “serves 6” but realistically for a Greek appetite, this serves 4.

This whole roasted snapper is one the tastiest and visually appealing dishes I’ve made in awhile. It incorporates seafood with pork (one complements the other), contains fennel (anise flavour works wonderfully with seafood), there’s that Portuguese linguica, a large handful of clams and wine, herbs and lemon wedges to finish off the dish to make a wonderful broth fit only for dunking with some crusty, homemade artisan bread.

Save, bookmark, print this recipe NOW! This dish is suitable to feed your family or spectacular for serving dinner guests. Another chorus of “Oooohs and Ahhh’s” will be heard from the dining room. This recipe finally made me subscribe to Saveur.

I followed the recipe verbatim except for the use of olives. Although I adore olives, my senses were telling me, “not this time”. Instead, I substituted them with cherry tomatoes and the added some more colour and freshness to the meal.

For those looking for a wine pairing…I cracked open a bottle of Skouras Cuvee Prestige white.

I never fail to order ‘whole snapper’ if I see it on a menu though usually it’s in an Asian or Latin restaurant and it comes flash-fried (which is delicious). This looks wonderful and healthier and, of course, I love the addition of chorizo and fennel seed. This would have been a perfect entrant for the Portugal stop in A Culinary Tour Around the World.
P.S. I’d be honored if you included FOODalogue in your blog friends.

Hi Peter,
You know before I started blogspot, I was using wordpress (I still have it) but, it was so difficult for me to use to use and to understand it. Blogger seems easy to use. Now, I feel tempted to continue with wordpress. Maybe I need somebody to help me with this.

Now the red snapper, I like all kind of fish and shelfish, but my family seem only like salmon. So, I tend to cook salmon more then other fish. But, I am not giving up my love of all kind of fish and shellfish because of that. In fact, I always tried everything to make it look more tempting to eat. This recipe of yours will definitely look like that!
Cheers,
Elra

That is fantastic, Peter, DAMN! I have never roasted a whole fish but snapper would probably be my first choice, only on par with wanting to make Lidia B.’s whole branzino I have bookmarked. The raw ingredients are making me hungry too. :)

And feel free to ramble about the PC biz for a bit – it feels great to “clean your place” and I applaud you for doing so!

Hi Peter! I’m enjoying Mach II as well! From you font choices to your side bars to your headers, everything is laid out very clean and is very easy to follow. Kudos to you and your friends for a job well done. Regarding today’s dish, YUM! I’m a fan of red snapper, plus I’d really like to snatch that center-left potato right off the screen! What I’d really like to do, though, is just as you suggest … soak up the broth with some bread. Thanks, too, for including me in your blogs of note. I’ll spend some time visiting the others, too.

I’m LOVING the new site Peter. Congratulations on the new look and on the switch to wordpress. I’m glad it was a smooth one! Now my turn! Soon i hope. What a better way to start the new blog with this kick-ass red snapper. Delicious!

Leslie

Your blog looks great! And I am not just saying this because I am a crack pot (LOL). The fish looks good (and colorful too). My Asian grocery store has had some great looking fish lately so I might have to cook up some whole fish soon.

OMG! Believe it or not, I just came back from a late dinner in a Thai restaurant in Channelside, Tampa. My hubby and I ordered a steamed red snapper with Lemon and chili sauce. It did not taste that grest, and yours is so much nicer for sure. I had to compromise as there are not many restaurants still serve food after 10pm.

That top picture is eye-poppingly good – worthy of a book cover. The lemon slices in the slashes are wonderful. As is your new blog site – I especially like the rotating picture. Some day, if you have the time, I’d love to hear why you switched from Blogger to WordPress, and what the advantages/disadvantages of each platform. If you have the time, that is!!

I love the new look Peter and the revolving header is really cool. Congrats on making the move to your own domain! The fish recipes from here have all been big hits with my husband and he is actually leaning over my shoulder while I type this. We’ll definitely be trying this one soon. I’d love to be in your links if you can squeeze me in!

Peter it looks wonderful in here. Love the new clean and sleek look! The fish dinner looks to die for and I agree that you do need that wonderful ABin5 for the dipping. But one thing Peter- that fish is still looking at me. Happy Valentine’s Day Love!

This can only be described as a gorgeous dish Peter. At least that is the first word that comes to mind besides colourful.Bautifully photographed. Someday when things slow down I may join the rest of you over at WordPress.

looks like a fitting dish for your house warming party – or would that be for your site warming party? I am glad that I’ll be able to continue reading your colorful posts, and trying some of your recipes.

On a different note, what would you do with 8 pound of feta? (A gift…)

Whew! That was a long journey. Love what you’ve done with the place. It’s beautiful! Thanks, Peter, for adding me to your link list. Very kind of you.
The dish looks like a festa! So colorful and I’m sure it’s delicious.
Enjoy your new home. It’s so..you!
Maryann xox

I love the new look. congrats. and di did u ever stop the guy jacking your pics! :)
So a friend of mine is over here looking at this post and is like can u plllease make that for me. He’s red snapper eatin’ fool!

Anything red snapper is visually stimulating, I love it. The lemon wedges create some nice contrast. Oh, since red and green are opposites on the color wheel, lime and red snapper would pop better. I wonder how it would taste? Are limes used in Greek cuisine?